Surgery on the horizon; Lupron failed

So, ladies, just an update on my story. I went today for my 3rd Lupron shot, but scheduled a consult with my gyn. before I took the shot since I've been in more pain since the 2nd shot than before. He agreed that I should be seeing clear progression of pain reduction if my ovary was the main problem. That has certainly not happened. So, no more Lupron; no need to have pain AND be menopausal too...thank goodness!

So, before we take the step of surgery for the adhesions I seem to be covered in, I have to have a colonoscopy (oh joy! ) to make sure all is well within the colon itself. He's pretty sure there is nothing causing the pain inside, but since my colon may be heavily involved in the adhesions, he wants to know if anything at all if going on before opening me up.

During my pelvic exam, my right ovary was extremely tender, and after the exam my right back in the hip area was just burning and hurting. Basically validated that I have a lot of stuff going on inside...and it needs to be taken care of!

Likely I will be going back to the for surgery after Thanksgiving, if my insurance will cover me for a 3rd surgery this year...man, they must LOVE me!

Just wanted to say thank you to all the sisters you weighed in and gave me great advice while I was on the Lupron. It really did help to know I'm not the only one out there trying to figure all this out!

Hey Lisa... so sorry that you might have to have surgery again but if there is light at the end of the pain tunnel, that is great. I would HATE to have the booty camera...yucky. I feel bad for ya. But at least your Dr. will do the adhesion surgery..mine won't operate on me again. And I know what you mean about the insurance. My major HMO has a nurse call me every week to see how I am doing so they can "get me better" ..right, like they care, they just want to stop footing the bill LOL. Lupron..how long before it is out of your system so the menopause symptoms stop?? Take care and I hope you are feeling better soon!

Lisa I am so sorry that you have to schedule another trip to the castle. It is frustrating. Sorry that you have to go through the colonoscopy. The prep is horrid and the colonoscopy you either remember it or you don't. They drug you up pretty good, but sometimes it is not enough especially if you have been on pain meds to deal with the adhesions. Good luck!

JT, I am sorry that your doctor refuses to operate again. I can understand both sides. My doctor doesn't want to operate, but will to help free up some of the pain and to hopefully prevent more colon problems. A general surgeon with expertise in adhesions won't do the surgery because the vaginal cuff is part of the problem. I have been told that I have to have a gyn do the surgery. I have seen a gyn specialist who could not do any better than my own gyn and I love my gyn, he is a great doctor & surgeon.

Hey Tracy and jt,

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the colonoscopy, but it's a necessary evil. The bad part is, after doing the colonoscopy, when surgery rolls around I will have to do the prep again because if the colon is heavily involved, he wants to take no chance of any damage to it causing infection, etc. Fun, huh? I guess that will tell you how bad my pain has become if I'm willing to go through all that to GET to the darn surgery!

Obviously no guarantees that the pain will relieved, but I'm doing a lot of reading on use of barrier/mesh for adhesions and it's definitely something I would insist on if he hadn't already told me he would cover everything in it this time. Hind sight is 20/20, but I wish he had done that during my hystectomy. Although most of my problems cropped up after the lap in Feb.

Tracy, thanks for telling me about the pain meds. I wonder if I try to slack off of them about a week beforehand if it will help? I DO NOT want to remember the colonoscopy in any way, shape or form! My Mom is actually having one this week, and my DH now has to have one every five years. He had one at 50 and they found 2 small polyps. He also has a huge family history of all kinds of cancer, so they are checking him out every 5 years now. He just LOVES that!

Anyway, I've started the ball rolling by making my consult appt. with the colon doctor. From there, we'll do the colonoscopy and if the insurance agrees, I will probably have surgery in early to mid-December. Right now, I'm just hanging in there! I'm trying not to strangle the nurse at my doctor's office; she's giving me a hard time with the pain meds, but my doctor agreed to try and drag it out til next year, knowing I'm in pain.

Keep in touch ladies! I so value your input and help...it's been a blast!

Lisa:

Don't let your Dr's nurse give you a hard time. If she makes a snippy comment or is rude, just tell her that you have cleared this with your doctor. I would let her know that when she gets her MD behind her name, she can have an opinion.

Personally, I would slack off on any thing that gives pain, anxiety or sleep relief for 7-14 days before the colonoscopy. Trust me, you don't want to remember it. You must really be in pain if you are willing to do the prep twice.

My surgery is going to be scheduled the week of December 8th and I won't be doing anything for a few weeks. So the mad dash to get Christmas shopping done begins.

Tracy...remind me what your upcoming surgery is for? I'm horrible at remembering things. I'm taking it that you have memories of a colonoscopy? Was it bad?

The nurse hasn't really said anything; but the fact that she was "really busy" all day yesterday just burns me up! I called exactly at 8:30 a.m. so that I wouldn't have to deal with exactly what I did. On top of that, they only called in 10 Lortabs, which at this point, is barely enough for two days on the weekend. I don't let myself hurt on the weekends; I have t deal with enough through the week! She has told me to "use them sparingly." Does she think I'm an idiot?

Lisa,
I have had many colonscopies and the prep is the worst part of the test. My doctors have always made sure I was comfortable during the test. Most times I was in a twilight type sleep. The last time I had one, the doc had it done at the hospital as he was worried about what he would find and due to the many problems I have. During that one I was totally out.

Good luck! I hope you find the answers you are seeking and that your doctor will keep you comfortable until your surgery. I have never had any problems getting the meds I needed to keep me comfortable. Guess I have some good and understanding docs.

Hey Kim...I think my doctor is great; the nurse, not so much. She's new; his old nurse was amazing! He said clearly on Thursday that until my surgery we would manage the pain. She wasn't in there, but on Friday when I called she didn't even give him the question...was too busy. What the heck? His old nurse was never "too busy" to get to a patient's needs. That's just crazy, isn't it?

Hey Lisa.... I hope that you don't remember anything. The prep ...well, I didn't do it either surgery and both times gyn came in after and gave me a hard time. She said the next surgery that i have to do the prep, no lying about it and she wasn't experienced enough to do the surgery. And 10 loratabs HUH?? what good is 10?? come out to Sacramento...my primary gave me 630 ultrams, no questions asked..call when i need more. At least him and gyno want me to be outta pain but geez, my brain is gonna be mush by the time they do something about what is causing the pain.
Hey Tracy, I had seprafilm put in with my abdominal cyst removal in Feb 08. All my pain seems to be in the ovary area but it could be adhesions. from what my dr. said that it is very hard to work with and is like a sheet of plastic that melts instantly when it gets wet so placement is really hard. They are supposedly working on a liquid form of it that will be easier and more effective when applied.
Hope everyone is having a pain-free weekend!

The prep for the colonoscopy was horrid. I did ok with the colonoscopy until about the last 5 minutes and lets just say that I am thrilled I don't have to do that again for a while.

As far as the pain meds go, are you sure your doctor was in on Friday? Maybe she is allowed to give certain patients refills on pain meds because it is documented in their chart? Maybe she didn't want to give too much? I am not excusing her behavior and if your doctor was out for anything other than vacation, I assume he would check in and could approve more. Now I have to say that 10 Lortab would be a joke. My gyn is fairly generous IMHO with pain meds and he has never made me suffer, but I don't abuse that trust. There is still that notion that this type of pain is all in our heads. I had the gyn I saw 3 weeks ago in my doctors absence tell me it wasn't gyn related and refused to give me any pain meds. Lucky for me (sarcasm here) I have bad migranes and take Demerol for them. I went through the last little bit I had that weekend. Both my regular gyn and my PCP heard about that especially when I needed the Demerol refilled. On Friday my gyn gave me Vicodin with a couple of refills to get to surgery.

Sometimes I think the nurses get tired of fielding our never ending calls for help. Still, no need to be unprofessional or treat you like that. I would call Monday and asked to speak to my doctor directly if I were you. There have been times that I have sent my doctor a faxed note, so there is record that I have reached out for help. I can communicate my thoughts, ask specific questions and send over any refills I need or want.

Thanks everyone for the pain free thoughts. Lisa I am having another lap because there is something going on in the vaginal cuff again. My thoughts are that there is another adhesion adhering my colon to the cuff area. So my gyn is going to have to free that up again. I am a lap pro unfortunately. Maybe I should share my story here on the Less Traveled road.